Quilt Barn Trail

1) The Gray/Springer quilt barn At 1378 Gray Rd. was built in 1904. The pattern design was created by Emily Gray Kohler and depicts agriculture with the sun, water, and rolling fields, showing contour plowing the Gray family pioneered.

2) The Feiger Quilt Barn is on 2513 Nelson Rd. Turn West at Walt’s Antique Sign. The 1910 original barn is now an antique shop. With a love of antiques in the Civil War the Feigers chose the Tulip pattern with soft colors.

3) The Lehto’s 1912 barn is on 15793 Smokey Hollow Rd. The barn was built In 1912. Suzanne designed the quilt to express who they are. The symbol at the top shows their Christian faith. The American flag, their pride of citizenship, the Finnish flag, their heritage, and the I&H for International Harvester, as in Tractor. Carl feels he is a farmer at heart.

4) The Krupka little red barn on Smokey Hollow is likely 100 years old. The crazy Quilt pattern show the Eucharist in the middle, the five stars represent their
children. The three fruits are what they grow, and the palm tree is the Logo for Fran’s clothing business. View it up close to see the lovely painted decorative stitching.

5) Brenden Keenan and wife, Teri Gray, 3997 Swaney Rd, have a small square mounted on their pole building. The pattern is from an actual 1940’s quilt,
Teri’s Great-grandmother made. It took 30 colors and 40 hours of work to make this square. Now the antique quilt is preserved in paint.

6) The Chown barn, 2877 Old Mission Rd.,was built in 1870 by the Marshall family. It is a landmark farm. The quilt square, a modified Bear Paw pattern, was taken from a quilt made by Becky’s greatgrandmother and her sister-in-law. The barn quilt serves as a poignant reminder of the treasured aspect of the families’ collective heritage.

7) The 1920 barn and farmland at 3068 Kroupa Rd was owned by the Kniss family until it was purchased in 2004 by O’Keefe’s Grand Traverse Chateau. Where once it was a a cherry orchard, it now grows grapes. Sean O’Keefe says it reminds him of the starlings that fly about the vineyard very fall.

8) Dean and Laura Johnson’s 1909 barn faces Center Rd, but their address is 3464 Kroupa Rd. You will see horses grazing out front of the barn, but the quilt square is on the south side. DON’T miss it! Traveling South on Center Rd. look back to see Laura’s stunning North Star.

9) Driving south on Center Rd., shortly before you come to Mapleton, round the curve and there, snug to the road, is a red saltbox barn. Built in 1880. Walter and Mary Johnson were cherry farmers, and the quilt square designed By Terilee Johnson depicts this with a
windmill
design around the cherries as this is indeed
a windy hill, once called Crescent Hill.

10) The Miller barn, 12026 Peninsula Dr. overlooks
West Bay. The barn is over 100 years old and the foundation was built from rocks taken off the farmland, and the barn built from timber cut on the land. Shirley chose the pattern Arrowhead for its bright, cheerful colors.